© British Film Institute

Filming came to an end on 27 August 1957, and the technical work started almost immediately. Oscar Rosander was the principal editor. The film was premiered in seven Swedish cities on 26 December 1957. The reviews were keenly enthusiastic, with one or two exceptions.

The film was selected to compete at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear Award as Best Film. Reporting for Cahiers du cinema, Jean-Luc Godard's short telegram to the home office is worth quoting: "Golden Bear Wild Strawberries proves Ingmar greatest stop script fantastic about flas conscience Victor Sjöström dazzled beauty Bibi Andersson stop multiply Heidegger by Giraudoux get Bergman stop". Wild Strawberries remains Bergman's most successful film in terms of the number of awards it has received, and it firmly established Bergman's reputation as a filmmaker on the international stage.

 

With the possible exception of The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries is the Bergman film that other filmmakers have referred to most. Philip and Kersti French have even described it as "the real ur-road movie", claiming that other films in the genre - such as Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969) - owe an implicit debt to Bergman's film. This may be an exaggeration, but whether in the form of parody or homage, there are numerous references to Wild Strawberries in the films of directors as diverse as Pedro Almodóvar (High Heels), André Téchiné (My Favourite Season), David Cronenberg and Tim Burton. Yet the most tireless devotee of the film is surely Woody Allen, who has made at least three films that  - wholly or in part - can be seen as appendages to Wild Strawberries: Another Woman (1988), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Deconstructing Harry (1997).

 

© AB Svensk Filmindustri

Finally, given that Bergman himself has said that he attempted to model Isak Borg on his own father, with whom he was in bitter feud at the time, it is interesting to see Bergman senior's reaction to the film. In a letter to its leading actor he wrote:

 

Dear Victor Sjöström!

Permit me, Ingmar's father, to send you my respectful greetings and my heartfelt thanks for your brilliant performance in Ingmar's latest film. - And thank you for all you have given to Ingmar and to me, and to countless others through your noble artistry and the spiritual inspiration of your entire work. - I will always remember with gratitude the friendly, encouraging words you spoke to me about Ingmar when he was still very young, and I stood before you in doubt and uncertainty.

My wife joins me in expressing our warm thanks.

Respectfully yours

Erik Bergman

4/1 58

 

References 

Bergman, Ingmar, Images: My Life in Film.

Bergman, Ingmar, "Ingmars självporträtt".

Bergman, Ingmar, The Magic Lantern.

Blomkvist, Mårten, Interview with Gunnar Fischer before the screening of Wild Strawberries on Cinemateket 10th of May 2003.

Björkman, Stig, m.fl., Bergman on Bergman.

Forslund, Bengt, Victor Sjöström: Hans liv och verk (Stockholm: Bonniers, 1980).

French, Philip and Kersti, Wild Strawberries.

Koskinen, Maaret, In the Beginning was the Word (I begynnelsen var ordet).